Sarah Palin Endorses Pete Ricketts for Nebraska Governor

On Friday, former Alaska Gov. Palin went to Nebraska and endorsed businessman Pete Ricketts for governor in the state in which her endorsement has proven to be the gold standard.

Palin joined Kay Orr, Nebraska’s former Republican governor whom Palin called the “original Mama Grizzly,” to endorse to endorse Ricketts, whom Palin called the clear principled commonsense conservative choice in this race whose positions are clear: “he opposes amnesty and taxpayer funded benefits for illegal immigrants in any form and always has.”

“While Pete’s opponents in this race have made a career for themselves as politicians, bureaucrats, or lobbyists, Pete spent his career in the private sector helping grow his family’s successful business from the bottom up,” Palin wrote. “I believe in teaching kids to never fear success and in fact to look to those who’ve ethically earned their success and emulate their work ethic! This is how we grow business, recover industry, hire Americans, and save our economy, and Pete proves this.”

Palin said the “alternative is woeful dependency on an inevitable sinking ship I call ‘Liberal Lunacy.'”

“Pete and his Nebraska family are an inspiring American success story, and now Pete is dedicated to making sure America’s promise is there for future generations to succeed and prosper,” she continued. “Like so many other commonsense conservatives, in the last eight years Pete has focused his energy and resources into furthering the conservative cause in Nebraska because he knows that in critical times like this we need fearless patriots willing to lead.”

Palin said Ricketts, the former COO of Ameritrade who lost a 2006 Senate race to Democrat Ben Nelson, “stands apart because he is running for the right reasons – to lead his state with a servant’s heart and a firm reliance on the time-tested truths that have made this country great.” She noted that his opponents “recycling old discredited attacks hatched up by the Democrats” and warned Nebraskans to not be “fooled by the mudslinging coming from a candidate eager to distract voters away from his own dodgy record.”

Ricketts was one of the first politicians in Nebraska to embrace the conservative Tea Party movement in contrast to more establishment candidates like Jon Bruning, who lost to Deb Fischer in the 2012 Nebraska Senate primary after Palin endorsed Fischer.

Palin also praised Ricketts for having “business acumen, the moral integrity, and the conservative common sense to lead Nebraska into a prosperous future,” and urged supporters to learn more about Ricketts at www.petericketts.com.

During the 2012 election cycle in Nebraska, the Republican establishment spent millions backing Jon Bruning, while Washington’s conservative establishment, including Freedom Works, spent millions backing Don Stenberg. But after Palin wrote a 135-word Facebook post to endorse Deb Fischer, the then-unknown candidate suddenly had “momentum, buzz, and name identification” and rocketed to the top of the polls en route to wins in the primary and general election.

On Saturday, Palin said that it was “a special honor to stand next to the legendary Kay Orr, the first Republican woman ever elected governor and a staunch ally of Ronald Reagan, who at his last state dinner sat Margaret Thatcher on his right and Kay Orr on his left.”

“Thank you, Kay, for being a trailblazing governor and for supporting great Nebraska conservatives like Deb Fischer, Ben Sasse, and Pete Ricketts,” she noted.